Field of the Invention
The conventional type of roller drawer guide includes two pairs of tracks, one mounted on the drawer, and the other mounted within the drawer cabinet or casing. A first pair of rollers, mounted just within the cabinet and secured to it engages the tracks which are secured to the drawer, and supports the drawer at the front. A second pair of rollers mounted on the left and right sides of the drawer at the rear of the drawer engages the tracks which are secured to the cabinet, and supports the rear of the drawer, with downward force being applied from the roller to the track when the drawer is closed, and upward force being applied from the roller to the track when the drawer is more than half way extended. This type of prior system is adequate for the purpose, but is somewhat more expensive than would be desirable, in view of the need to use two pairs of tracks one mounted on the drawer, and one mounted on the cabinet, so that four tracks are required, two on each side of the drawer.
With this type of drawer including two pairs of tracks, as discussed above, the space between the outer side of the drawer and the adjacent portions of the cabinet, which support the second rails, is normally about one-half inch. One device which is intended to permit a drawer to be mounted closer to the adjacent cabinet wall, is disclosed in C. W. Koch U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,071, granted Nov. 26, 1940. In order to mount the drawer with its sides closer to the adjacent cabinet walls, the structure shown in the Koch patent utilizes tracks mounted on the cabinet wall above the drawer, with cantilevered rollers supported by brackets extending from the rear of the drawer to locate each roller above and to the rear of the drawer to engage the associated track. In addition, a separate roller is mounted just inside the cabinet under the lower sides of the drawer. While the device shown in the Koch patent was intended to save space, in actuality, it requires that a relatively shallow drawer be employed, and drawer space is also lost at the rear of the drawer because of the rearward extent of the cantilevered bracket for supporting the rollers which are secured to the drawer. In addition, the drawer arrangements shown in the Koch patent are not compatible with standard drawer and cabinet designs, which include one-half inch spacing between the sides of the drawers and the adjacent walls of the cabinet. Thus, any utilization of the Koch invention would require the full redesign of a cabinet and associated drawers rather than merely substituting one type of drawer hardware for another.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive drawer roller mounting and supporting system, and one which is compatible with existing cabinet and drawer configurations.